Potty training my girl

1 to 3 years

Created by
Updated on Sep 09, 2013

Hi, I am trying my 2. 5 yr old daughter to be potty trained. She was trained when she was 1. 5 yrs but we used diapers when we travel which made her forget the process. Now and then we start training her and something or other will come around, like we may travel or she might fall sick or I would have fallen sick. All the excuses made us not being consistent in the training. Now that she is 2. 5 we are trying hard to train her. I make her sit on the potty every hour or so, keep asking her if she wants to go pee or potty, she says no. But when i make her sit, then she pees. But how much ever I ask she still doesn't poop in the potty. She wears diapers only in the night now because she wets the bed at least three times during night and it seems difficult to get her back to sleep after the change. That is why we have kept her in diapers only in the night.
Whenever I ask her to pee, she starts saying no and cries. But somehow when we make her sit, then she does pee pee. I do give her rewards like stars but she doesn't inform me when she needs to go. How can I make her to tell me beforehand and avoid accidents. What am I supposed to do so that he will do potty also in the toilet. I have showed her pictures videos and explained to her many times but in vain. She can tell theory about the potty but practically she is not doing it. Please help. I have to get her potty trained.

hi ankita. thanks for the input. Ayaha culture is not here in this country. that is the reason for worry! And if i'm not able to train him like this, he would be back to diapers. Neither my boy nor me is interested in diapers again. we dont use them in travel either. he can undress and dress in normal time, but not when he wants to poo. Kindly give me some more inputs.

Hi Yamini, congratulations on weaning him off diapers, but he is still too small to be able to clean himself, so relax. Some, but not all, pre-schools ask for the child to be potty trained but that does not necessarily mean, he should be able to do the entire process himself. It means that he should not be wetting himself. Anyway, what you can do is to start at some level... such as teach him to take his lowers off on his own, and pull them back on when he is done. Also, if the potty seat is high, teach him to place a stool next to it, climb on it by himself. But still it will take time, so don't worry. Any good school will have ayahs to help children do all this.

hi. my son is now 3 and is out of diapers for the past 1year. he says when he wants to pee/poo. Now my problem is he cant undress himself and sit on the toilet seat and take a paper to clean. i heard in all preschools, the child must be potty trained. how can i train him like that?

Hi guys, my Daughter is getting there. Though she s not telling me her urge to pee, when I ask her where she wants to do pee pee either the big girl potty or frogy potty,then she says frogy and does pee pee there. So i assume it is going to take time and a lot of patience. And oh, she doesn't like treats now a days for doing potty. What I understand is that everyone in the family will have to speak the same language when training kids... isn't it?

Hi Sathya! Children before doing potty generally tend to pass gas, lie down or restrict movement. Generally note down after which feed she passes stools,. Ask her 'do u wanna use washroom?' Accompany her, narrate a story, sing rhymes, so tht she does not feel it to be an activity which one wants to avoid. By doing so she would look fwd to it n would start going warning too.

Hi Sathya. My son is also 2. 5 yr old. Some weeks ago I am also afraid on this issues. I told him that now you are BIG boy / Small & bad boys doing like this. In starting he takes my help for pee & chee. But now he is doing all independently. He alone goes in toilet for pee & chee. & of course my personal view is not used dipers for your baby now even in night.

Thank you Anurima and Shiska for your valuable comments. I do have a big girl potty seat for her. She at times decides to sit on it rather than the frogy potty. Today she didn't wet her clothes till evening and she did even poop in the potty we praised her a lot and gave a treat. She too was proud but after that there were two accidents. There is no yelling or embarrassing her. I understand it is long process but what I can't see is her signs I'd doing potty. She just doesnt show any sign or warn me. I am not sure what signs I am suppose to look for. It is just that I am making her sit in the potty every hour.

Hi Sathya! I understand ur concerns regarding making ur child toilet trained but it is advisable to go slow on this issue as too much stress on it might make a child have psychological problems related to it which will be reflected when she will be grown up too. Please go slow on it she will learn to give warning as all children do one day. Scolding, panicking or nagging may make the child irritable and finally avoid thereby leading to constipation and other psychological issues. As u said u give stars and praise the child, it is a god step taken in this direction. As Anurima mentioned u cud get toilet seat instead of potty chair is a good solution and may make the child feel she is a grown up and so she should use it on her own. I second all suggestions given by Anurima and would like to add that please be calm while handling this issue. Making child sit on potty chair every hour would be stressful for u as well as the child too. Just look for signs when child needs to use washroom and at night as Anurima has suggested don't give water one hr before and and make her use toilet before sleeping would make her visits to washroom less frequent. I generally narrate stories of my daughters favorite cartoon characters which makes it an enjoyable experience for her. Rewarding, praise, motivation are steps which will prove to be worthwhile in reinforcing successful use of toilet. accidents should not be to embarass the child rather motivating her to avoid it.

Hello Sathya. You could get her a colourful and an attractive toilet seat and let her use the toilet instead of the potty. She could feel grown up and try to control/inform beforehand. To prevent her from wetting her diapers at night, you may avoid giving her any liquid (milk/water) about an hour before bedtime and make sure she goes to the toilet before going to bed. Accidents are not pleasant and she will try to avoid wetting her clothes and gradually learn to control and use the toilet. To make her poo in the toilet, please put her on the toilet around the time she usually poops. A cup of warm milk may get things moving for her (if she tries to control when on the toilet/potty) :) I think she will learn soon but meanwhile you need to be consistent and reward/praise her when she uses the toilet/potty. Good luck :)